Inugami (manga)

Inugami (犬神) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masaya Hokazono. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from July 1996 to July 2002, with its chapters collected in 30  volumes as of November 2002. The story about a boy who finds an inugami, a dog god of the Japanese mythology.

A revised and expanded version by Hokazono, titled Inugami Kai (犬神・改), was serialized digitally in Leed Publishing's Leed cafe online platform, for ten volumes, it was licensed for an English-language translation in North America by Manga Planet.

A Remake of Inugami manga illustrated by Aki Shimizu titled Inugami Re (犬神Re) serialized digitally through Line Manga, it will be in two parts. the first part ran from October 2020 to September 2022, with its chapters collected in four volumes by Asahi Shimbun Publications.

Story
A dog that can scarcely remember his past, Inugami only knows that he has been ordered to spy on humans. Hosting a distinctive "23" tattooed on his ear, he has the ability to not only quickly recover from injuries but to also grow spikes on his back. His abilities include, but are not limited to, passing on his power to anyone who happens to touch his blood. Unfortunately, his unusual power also attracts the attention of those interested in acquiring his power.

Having wandered into the city, Inugami finds himself in an abandoned building which Fumiki, an aspiring poet, frequents. After listening to Fumiki's poetry for some time, Inugami befriends the aspiring poet and eventually learns to speak, much to Fumiki's surprise. Through their friendship, Inugami realizes that not all humans are bad. Unfortunately a pharmaceutical corporation soon learns of Inugami's existence. Realizing that Inugami's regenerating cells could lead to immortality, the corporation attempts and succeeds at acquiring Inugami's gene's. Soon, the company ends up creating terrifying monsters. Soon, Inugami ends up in a fight with one of these monsters and for a moment, questions the goodness of humans, who have created these monsters. In that fleeting moment of doubt, a different Inugami, with the intent to kill humans, appears.

Characters

 * 23
 * One of the main characters and an inugami that befriends Fumiki.


 * Fumiki
 * One of the main characters


 * Mika
 * Mika is the childhood friend of Fumiki


 * Kiryu
 * The main antagonist of the series.

Publication
Written and illustrated by Masaya Hokazono, Inugami was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine from July 25, 1996, to July 24, 2002. Kodansha collected its chapters in fourteen volumes, published from January 21, 1997, to November 20, 2002; Kodansha republished the series in seven  volumes from December 12, 2002, to February 8, 2003; a new edition in six volumes from October 10, 2008, to February 7, 2009; and the complete edition in four volumes from December 12, 2012, to March 13, 2013.

Hokazono later drew a revised and expanded version, titled Inugami Kai, was serialized digitally in Leed Publishing's Leed cafe online platform, with its chapters collected in ten volumes between March 28, 2017 and July 27, 2018. It was licensed for an English-language translation in North America by Manga Planet.

A Remake of Inugami manga illustrated by Aki Shimizu titled Inugami Re serialized digitally through Line Manga, it will be in two parts. the first part ran from October 14, 2020, to September 6, 2022. Asahi Shimbun Publications collected its chapters in four volumes, published three volumes from October 20, 2020,  to March 18, 2022, and released the fourth volume digitally on October 2, 2023.

Reception
By 2020, Inugami Re manga had sold over 1.5 million copies in circulation.